I was a 1 woman protest today of the Kelly Miller circus in Lasalle, Il for the 4:30 show. A lot was said, I was followed closely by the circus police (the circus workers) and surrounded 2 in front, 2 on the side , and 2 in the back of me when I was under the big top durring the show. Yes I bought a ticket with the intention of taking as many pictures as I could, and recording as much as I could. One guy even sat right next to me. I recorded several 15-30 second videos as that was all I was able to before I was approached and told no recording. All the while everyone around me was also recording the show using their phones. I had my camera and the red light was blinking every time I was on record mode! Needless to say I did not get much! All the while I can feel my anger mounting and mounting so much so I even called one of my friends Theresa Stafford- Grant to have her calm me down, and ugh! She didnt answer! (not her fault at all as she did not even know I was going to do this at all)Durring the intermission, they brought in Lisa and Tracy the Asian elephants in the Kelly Miller circus, to give elephant rides. I actively recorded rides and took pictures as it was not technically durring the show. About 3 minutes into the intermission and me snapping away on my camera the chief of circus police came up to me and told me I had plenty of pictures. That was the wrong thing to say to me at that moment because I was a ticking time bomb and her saying that to me was all it took for me to blow! It very rapidly became a one sided yelling match. I of course was the one yelling. I told her this was wrong on so many levels and how can she claim to love all these animals. How she is exploiting them in the worst way all for the almighty dollar. How can she live with herself knowing how the elephants came from Carson and Barnes circus knowing the abuse they have gone through. She then proceeded to tell me next year they will not be leasing their elephants from them with all the publicity of animal abuse charges on them for the way they treat their animals. I questioned her about the rape of that poor 14 year old girl in New York by one of the Kelly Miller circus staff. She said that never happened. I asked her why the guy following the elephants was using a bullhook to hit them in the legs while they were giving children rides. She said he wasnt. I told her I beg to differ with you lady because I just recorded him doing it . She said you have that on your camera right now. I said yes maam I do, and you better believe once I get home, I am blasting all over the internet. Well I lied to her. I was not able to actually get it on video. He was very fast when he was hitting them. He had his bullhook shaped like a cane, so it appeared like he was using it to walk. She then proceeded to tell me the USDA requires them to use bullhooks at all times!!!!! Then I really lost it. I wont bore you all with the tiny details. Use your imagination of my reaction. A family with 4 small children were right next to us when this was all happening and the kids were visibly upset. At that moment I realized it was time for me to leave. As I lef,t I handed every single person I could a flyer and told them to think again about going back to see the rest of the show. I knew I was getting to the point of no return and I did not want to get arrested, and I also did not want to become a victim of any retaliation from the circus people mainly because I was by myself. So I left. If you skip back a moment I can explain what I believe to be the moment that put me in the mindset of not being able to keep quiet. Before they brought the elephants under the big top during the intermission I went out of the big top and was watching Lisa, one of the Asian elephants ,.. She was desperately trying to reach some hay that was about 4 inches out of her reach. She was grasping at the few leaves of grass that was left where she was standing and got mostly dry dirt in her mouth. She was hungry and could not reach the hay. Then it happened...Tears starting falling from her eyes. Not just one tear. A steady flow of tears! My heart was absolutely broken. Not only was she trapped in an area no bigger than my living room she was obviously hungry and couldnt reach her food. This was a defining moment for me. This is why I will not stop until the days of animals in the circus are no more! I am going to include the video, and I apologize in advance. It is not a very good recording as I was shaking now at this time. Not because I was cold. Because I have never felt so helpless about something in my life. Because I was in complete and udder shock of what I was seeing. Because I was in complete despair. And because I was so *^*^%% mad about it. Whether she was really crying or not I do not know. I believe in my heart she was, because the tears did not come until her 5th attempt to reach the hay. I will leave it up to all of you to decide what you think was happening. Towards the end of the 1st video you can see her trying to get some in her mouth and it was equivalent to a tablespoon of hay. As I was leaving the chief of circus police followed me out trying to take the flyers away from the people I had just given them to. I yelled if there is no abuse happening then she wouldnt be trying to get the information away from the circus goers. Than she had the nerve to say these pictures of the elephants in your flyer are African elephants. We dont have African elephants Well I very loudly yelled Keep telling yourself there is nothing wrong with having animals in the circus being forced to do tricks they would never do in the wild if that helps you to sleep at night! And you better believe next year when you come to Illinois, I will be the new sheriff in town and will not stop being on your ass until this circus is shut down! And with that I walked away.. I called my friend Teresa Chiletz and started to tell her what had happened and I lost it. I finished my drive home in total sadness and now I am home sharing my experience with all of you. There is a lot more to my experience today, however I did not want to bore anyone so I only touched on the key points. Please dont ever stop the fight to help all these amazing animals that deserve so much more in their lives. They may not be able to go back to the wild, however they all deserve dignaty and a quality of life they will never get being in the entertainment industry for us humans. Get ahold of your lawmakers, politicians, each other. Conquer and divide! Together we can all STOP CIRCUS SUFFERING! (again I am sorry about the shaky video)
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 01:11:06 +0000
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